One year later...

[KWright_VT]

I just wanted to post an update after a year of brewing. It started last year with my wife's gift to me of a Brewer's Best American Pale Ale kit and starter brewing setup. It was great, and I was hooked. I joined my local home-brew club, and was amazed by the great beer everyone was making. I went to all grain after that first batch, and love the control I can have.

Since that first beer, I have now made 2 ciders, a Munich/Galaxy SMaSH, a centennial blonde, an amber, a Belgian Dubbel, and my last one is a brown ale. There have been a couple of problems along the way, but all were good. Maybe not award-winning, but certainly tasty beers. I love this hobby, and especially the research at local breweries that must be done (my wife believes this).

A few lessons I've learned,

1. Relax, don't worry and have a homebrew
2. Beer is forgiving
3. Homebrewing does not save money (I figure each bottle is costing me around $25 with all of my investment, LOL
4. Join a homebrew club to learn
5. Ask questions
6. Drink a lot of different beer to learn
7. Be patient!

Thanks to all who have helped me, this is a great community!

 

[Tactical-Brewer]

I can't show my girlfriend #3! It's my entire argument lol.

That's awesome man! I can't wait to keep trudging along and get my year mark too!

 

[JonM]

I read a great line a while back on HBT: Brewing to save money on beer is like buying a boat to save money on fish.

 

[alexacuna]

I've had some friends chipping in on the process (or to reap the benefits of it) and it's been nice. Thrifted most of my carboys and washing my yeast when it's all done have been decent ways to cut the costs down a bit.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Once you drop lots of cash on the necessary equipment, you can definitely brew cheaper than you can buy. But how long does that take to even out... I don't know.

 

[Elkobrewer]

Right on congrats on 1 year in the books. Your beer will only continue to improve. If I think back on it I believe this is the start of my fourth year I started out with mr beer. Then went to extract then all grain. It's been an awesome hobby.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I can't show my girlfriend #3! It's my entire argument lol.

That's awesome man! I can't wait to keep trudging along and get my year mark too!

#3 CAN change but certainly should not get hung up on it unless it is your primary goal (it was mine back in 1994 when I started). Two things make is possible...have expensive taste in beer and learning to brew/buy/hoard/innovate with an eye toward budget in every detail. When do this, I produce 9 gallons for about $28...when I am less frugal it is about $36. I have bought less than $150 in new equipment in 10 years.

To the OP, congrats. This can be an all consuming hobby or a nice diversion.

 

[slym2none]

I definitely save money by home-brewing. I don't have a bunch of fancy equipment. Just a pot , a MrB LBK (that I got for free), an accurate dial thermometer, a hydrometer, and a wing-capper. $38 in equipment.

 

[brew703]

IMO definitely cheaper to brew once you acquire the necessary equipment. Even more cheaper if you can harvest yeast and not have to spend $7 for yeast every time you want to brew.
I figure it cost me $9 a six pack to buy vs $15 or less to buy the grains to brew a 3 gallon batch which nets me a little more than a case.

 

[Tactical-Brewer]

I need to learn how to harvest my yeast.

 

[CJ-3]

I need to learn how to harvest my yeast.

This thread is a good place to start.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=41768

 

[Tactical-Brewer]

Perfect! Thank you!

 

[slym2none]

I do a very simple method - after draining all the beer out I can for bottles, I have 1-1/2 C water that I boiled earlier (I boil it in the microwave as the wort is boiling, then cover) that I then pour down the side of the FV (so as not to disturb the lower layer of trub), swirl until it looks like you are just loosening up the trub layer, then pour out the water/yeast mixture into a sanitized Mason jar & put a sanitized lid on it. Cold-crash that for 24 hours, decant most of the liquid, and if you have a lot of trub in the jar, repeat the process until you have mostly yeast.

I will admit, my method probably isn't the best, and the amount of yeast I get can vary pretty widely, but it works. This last batch of beer, I got probably 2-3 times the amount of yeast out than I ever had before. Of course, I didn't dry-hop this batch (Centennial Blonde) so that might have made the difference. IDK.

 

[Psylocide]

Even easier if you don't wash it.

Rack, swirl, dump in sanitized mason jars. Leave the lids loose, stick in fridge. Tighten up lids after 8 hrs or so.

Remove the day of the brew to warm to room temp, decant beer and pitch slurry.

 

[dwhite60]

I've got a policy of not brewing anything that I could buy off the shelf for less than $9.00 a six pack. Helps justify the time.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[Onkel_Udo]

IMO definitely cheaper to brew once you acquire the necessary equipment. Even more cheaper if you can harvest yeast and not have to spend $7 for yeast every time you want to brew.
I figure it cost me $9 a six pack to buy vs $15 or less to buy the grains to brew a 3 gallon batch which nets me a little more than a case.

A second HUGE money saver is hops. If you like even moderately hop-heavy beers, buy pounds or 5-pounders.

My simple way to save money is:

Either use dry yeast or harvest
Buy bulk hops...seriously consider what you want to brew, buy those hops online in minimum 1-pound increments
Buy bulk grains...even your LHBS can help here. I get full sacks, 10#, 5# and do so at a price not much more than online with shipping. They order me what I ask for and have it in a week.
Bulk buys in your area can make this even cheaper but the storage requirements increase as well unless they do splits and you get lucky that folks want to split full sacks with what you want.

New stuff needed to make all these changes:

Space: about 6 sqft...or the size of a coat closet
Freezer space: 1/2 a normal 18 cuft fridge/freezer freezer compartment...less if you use all pellets...add one cuft of the fridge for 1/2 pint mason jars to harvest yeast.
1 flat of 1/2 pint mason jars
6-8 Homer buckets and lids for grain storage and probably eight 2-quart Gladware/Ziploc storage containers.
Mill
Foodsaver (AWESOME garage sale/craigslist find)

Depending on your mill this new stuff can cost a little over $100 or about $450.

You notice I did not include stir plate and beakers, etc, to step up your harvested yeast because they are not absolutely necessary. Got growlers lying around? Put the slurry and 2-qt of 1.040 wort in made from DME and 1.75 quarts of water in a growler with an airlock and stopper...swirl it every time you pass it. this is going into 10 gallons of beer so you can very reasonably assume the impact of two quarts is minimal. On day three or four...brew and pitch the whole darned thing!

I am a Redneck brewery but in the end, we had a lot of crappy processes in the old days because we had few resources and we made very good beer. The OP nailed it when he said "beer is forgiving". Be careful, consistent and diligent in process but not obsessive and you can make very good beer very inexpensively.

 

[brew703]

A second HUGE money saver is hops. If you like even moderately hop-heavy beers, buy pounds or 5-pounders.

My simple way to save money is:

Either use dry yeast or harvest
Buy bulk hops...seriously consider what you want to brew, buy those hops online in minimum 1-pound increments
Buy bulk grains...even your LHBS can help here. I get full sacks, 10#, 5# and do so at a price not much more than online with shipping. They order me what I ask for and have it in a week.
Bulk buys in your area can make this even cheaper but the storage requirements increase as well unless they do splits and you get lucky that folks want to split full sacks with what you want.

New stuff needed to make all these changes:

Space: about 6 sqft...or the size of a coat closet
Freezer space: 1/2 a normal 18 cuft fridge/freezer freezer compartment...less if you use all pellets...add one cuft of the fridge for 1/2 pint mason jars to harvest yeast.
1 flat of 1/2 pint mason jars
6-8 Homer buckets and lids for grain storage and probably eight 2-quart Gladware/Ziploc storage containers.
Mill
Foodsaver (AWESOME garage sale/craigslist find)

Depending on your mill this new stuff can cost a little over $100 or about $450.

You notice I did not include stir plate and beakers, etc, to step up your harvested yeast because they are not absolutely necessary. Got growlers lying around? Put the slurry and 2-qt of 1.040 wort in made from DME and 1.75 quarts of water in a growler with an airlock and stopper...swirl it every time you pass it. this is going into 10 gallons of beer so you can very reasonably assume the impact of two quarts is minimal. On day three or four...brew and pitch the whole darned thing!

I am a Redneck brewery but in the end, we had a lot of crappy processes in the old days because we had few resources and we made very good beer. The OP nailed it when he said "beer is forgiving". Be careful, consistent and diligent in process but not obsessive and you can make very good beer very inexpensively.

I have the space. My office houses my fermentation chamber and everything else my wife does not allow in the kitchen. I do have a stir plate and a 2L flask.

I have not bought bulk hops yet as the beers I make basically have different hops. I normally use magnum for bittering so I could buy that in one pound increments. I'm into citrus based hops so I could also buy citra by the pound and save a few bucks.

As for yeast, I use both liquid and dry. When I use liquid, I make a starter and harvest some for future use. And for dry I usually make two batches from one 11 gram pack.

I don't yet have a grain mill so I have to buy grains per batch and have them crush. A grain mill is on the horizon and i'll see about getting grains in bulk from the LHBS or the local craft brewery.

Thanks for the info.

 

[alexacuna]

I've milled grains with a spare coffee grinder and it's worked fine. Has anyone else done this or found reasons not to do this? Brewing mostly extract, so i can imagine it getting tedious with large batches, but for those of us doing smaller (and still figuring it out) it doesn't seem too different.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I've milled grains with a spare coffee grinder and it's worked fine. Has anyone else done this or found reasons not to do this? Brewing mostly extract, so i can imagine it getting tedious with large batches, but for those of us doing smaller (and still figuring it out) it doesn't seem too different.

At least one all-grain brewer on here does it with a blender. I am a patient man but it would drive me nuts of the batches I do.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I don't yet have a grain mill so I have to buy grains per batch and have them crush. A grain mill is on the horizon and i'll see about getting grains in bulk from the LHBS or the local craft brewery.

Thanks for the info.

A mill can be as simple as a Corona clone (about $25) if you BiaB. You will need to DIY the mill output to control the grain "fling" but there are couple threads on here to do that. Alternatively, the Cereal Killer is about $100 at adventures in homebrewing. I still run an ancient Phil Mill II and hand crank it all.

Everyone will steer you to the "ultimate" x or y as they are right in considering it "future proof". That said, you can horse an old single roller mill through hundreds of gallons of beer if you have will, an arm and an eye to frugal verses best.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

and here I thought this was about my BL review. hahaha!!

glad to hear you're enjoying the hobby! I've been brewing for almost 17 years and still learn (I'm a slow learner) from my fellow home brewers!:rockin:

 

[tele_dirtbag]

3. Homebrewing does not save money (I figure each bottle is costing me around $25 with all of my investment, LOL

If you think of it as the hobby that it is for most of us, it definitely saves money. For example, I am a woodworker, and I spend a massive amount on wood and tools. If I were to quit, I would save money. If I were to quit brewing, however, I would still buy beer. I figure I may as well make my own and have fun doing it, rather than just getting tanked on someone elses. Its like killing two birds with one stone.

Cheers

 

[JLeuck64]

Me and a coworker were comparing hobbies the other day... He likes to target shoot and reloads his own ammunition.

I like to home brew and bottle my own beer.

Suddenly it occurred to both of us that our hobbies won't necessarily save us any money but it sure does let us SHOOT more!

 

[Stillraining]

I definitely save money by home-brewing. I don't have a bunch of fancy equipment. Just a pot , a MrB LBK (that I got for free), an accurate dial thermometer, a hydrometer, and a wing-capper. $38 in equipment.

Right on Slym....I'm right there with ya...I already owned the burner for cooking crab..and already owned lots of coolers. Im not into this gig more then about 300 and I don't have an itch to get any fancier.

For me its ALL about "cheap good tasting beer". If I could swing into the gas station on my way home from work and buy it for 30 cents per bottle I would not mess around with making it. I have way too many other hobbies to spend my time on.
I do enjoy making beer don't get me wrong... but if I wasn't saving money I could not justify it. I own 17 pieces of heavy equipment that need every spare dollar I have to keep them together. Everyone's motive is different. #3 is definitely mine. So from at least 2 members here there is a message to the OP... "Don't let anyone tell you cant make cheap great tasting beer with minimal gear". Fast ...Easy...Cheap and excellent product.

Funny...those are the same criteria every single one of my customers expects out of me when I roll onto their job with a 100K worth of equipment.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

the way I justify it is: I enjoy doing it. even bottling isn't bad. there is no right or wrong to why you brew.

 

[schematix]

3. Homebrewing does not save money (I figure each bottle is costing me around $25 with all of my investment, LOL

You just need to brew more to help spread out your equipment cost!

I figure I've brewed about 4000 beers since i started brewing about 4.5 years ago. I've probably dropped $15k on the hobby including all equipment, ingredients, bigger equipment, fuel, water, etc. However i now have a really sweet set up that enables me to make whatever i want.

$15k probably sounds like a lot, but the way I look at it is that i'd still have to buy beer (even at $20/wk is still $5k over home brewing career). Then I'd also have a ton of extra free time I'd be more likely to spend on. And of course, the beer I make is better than the crap i can buy, which is worth a lot to me.